Thursday, August 23, 2018

On the edge of starry night ~

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E.E. Cummings was born on October 14, 1894, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His style universally portrays different types of structure which adds interest and creativity into his poetry. He uses four different facets of form and structure which are: choppiness in sentence length, spacing and punctuation, overall poem length, and shape. As I was going through some of Cummings's poems, I came across one that completely blew me away:

The Hours Rise Up Putting Off Stars And It Is

the hours rise up putting off stars and it is
dawn
into the street of the sky light walks scattering poems

on earth a candle is
extinguished the city
wakes
with a song upon her
mouth having death in her eyes

and it is dawn
the world
goes forth to murder dreams….

i see in the street where strong
men are digging bread
and i see the brutal faces of
people contented hideous hopeless cruel happy

and it is day,

in the mirror
i see a frail
man
dreaming
dreams
dreams in the mirror

and it
is dusk on earth

a candle is lighted
and it is dark.
the people are in their houses
the frail man is in his bed
the city

sleeps with death upon her mouth having a song in her eyes
the hours descend,
putting on stars….

in the street of the sky night walks scattering poems.


Our frame of reference is the last line of Cummings's poem. Choose your own form or write in free verse, if preferred. I look forward to reading what you guys come up with. Please do visit others and remember to comment on their poems. Have fun!

22 comments:

Magaly Guerrero said...

I really love this line, Sanaa. The images it brews...

Happiest Thursday, everyone!

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much, gorgeous!😊 Heading over to read you💞☕

Kim M. Russell said...

Definitely a wonderfully inspirational line, Sanaa!

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much, Kim 😊 so glad you liked it💞☕

Sherry Blue Sky said...

This poem definitely sparked a response in me. Thanks, Sanaa.

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Yayyy Sherry's in the house!💞 I m so happy to hear that 😊 heading over now☕

Victoria Stuart said...

This is beautiful. Weirdly, this morning I woke up and wrote an ee cummings style poem, which I've never done before. It didn't fit this prompt, though, so lucky me, I got to write another one. Such a gorgeous poem and I love the line you made the focus of this prompt. Kudos and gratitude! -- Victoria Stuart

Susie Clevenger said...

Such a beautiful prompt..Thank you Sanaa

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Wow, what a wonderful prompt! You have caused me to start my morning by pouring out a poem! Thank you.

Anonymous said...

a wonderful choice of poems and a great line to use as inspiration; I really had lots of fun with this ... it's the type of thing you don't want to do just once, so many avenues of possibility.

thanks for the prompt and hosting Sanaa - definitely added some zip to writing this day 😁

(I'll be around in a short while to read such interested/ing responses)

peterfrankiswrites.wordpress.com said...

Fun prompt - thank you. Look forward to reading everyone's response.

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much, Victoria 😊 so glad you liked it💞☕

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much, Susie 😊 loved your offering to the prompt💞☕

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Yayyy I am so happy to hear that, Rosemary 😊 thank you for joining in💞☕

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much Pat😊 love your enthusiasm 💞☕

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you for joining us, Peter💞☕

Laura Bloomsbury said...

When I first came across Cummings aeons ago I was put off by his lack of punctuation etc and capital letters but now am mature enough(!) to look beyond and into his poetry - this is an excellent choice Sanaa and got my juices flowing, when I finally found the time. Thank you!

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much, Laura💞 I really loved your poem!😊

Kerry O'Connor said...

This is a wonderful prompt, Sanaa, and one I will return to this weekend.. better late than never but this week has kept me from my favourite pastime of hanging out in the garden. my work schedule from now until the end of November is hectic!

Margaret said...

joining late - have had a busy week - but I have been eager to write a poem to this image... thanks for the nudge. I played with the arrangement a bit - hope that is OK.

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much, Kerry💞 I understand work can be really hectic at times☕

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Thank you so much, Margaret💞 your poem was lovely!😊